Emirates Serving Dom Pérignon Vintage 1998 In First Class For A Limited Time

Now, you may or may not know I’m only 16 and rarely talk about Alcohol on this blog, and this will be one of the few times I do talk about it before I turn 18 😉

Tonight I was looking at the menu for an upcoming Emirates first class flight, and I came across something that caught my eye. Emirates Is serving Dom Perignon Vintage 1998 for a limited time in First class.

Per Emirates,

For a limited time on select flights, First Class customers can now enjoy Dom Pérignon Plénitude Deuxième 1998 thanks to our long partnership with Dom Pérignon. It joins the 2006 vintage on board.

I always get curious at the prices of alcohol that airlines serve and I went and had a look at the price.

Oh my…

That’s $544 AUD!

As I can’t drink I don’t know what it’s like so If you’re traveling Emirates first soon please take advantage of it.

Introduction – Battle of the ME3 – Etihad, Qatar and Emirates First Class

So by now I’m sure you can tell I love the Middle East, especially Abu Dhabi. I’m not sure how I got to love the place so much, but I do. In January I’m headed to London for the first time to visit. When I was thinking how am I going to get there, I had a rather nice idea. Because I’ve done Etihad quite a lot now why don’t I compare all ME3 in one trip? So I booked all 3 to compare one another in a single trip, and all on their flagship A380’s.

Leg one:

For the first leg, I will be flying on Qatar in first on their A380 from Sydney to Doha. I’m excited to fly them on this route because this is their only true ”long haul” route for their A380. I’ve flown Qatar in business class on their A350 and found the hard product to be excellent, but the soft product was quite lacking compared to their opposition.

Qatar Airways A380 First Class image – Qatar Airways

Leg 2:

Well, this leg is also on Qatar but on an A320 to Dubai. I’m also very excited to trial their Al Safwa first lounge which looks brilliant.

Qatar A320 Business Class Image: Qatar Airways

Leg 3:

Excessive bling, AKA Emirates. I’ve flown Emirates many times across to Auckland and found the experience pretty great. However, I have never flown them over 3 hours. I’ll be flying them to London, and I’m excited to test them on a longer flight.

Emirates First Class image: Zac George

Leg 4:

Well, this was a given. I’ll be flying my beloved Etihad back to Abu Dhabi. I’ve flown them eight times in the past year all long-haul, and I’m interested to see what they are like on medium haul flights.

Etihad A380 Apartments Image: Zac George

Leg 5:

To be decided.

Bottom Line

I’m extremely excited for this trip and be able to review all 3 in a single trip. I’ll also be reviewing the lounges, so there will be many posts from the whole trip.

Emirates Wants Every Australian Flight To Be Operated By A380’s

Emirates CEO Tim Clark has recently been in Sydney for the last few days discussing possible future expansions and upgrades for Australian services.

One of the most interesting things Mr. Clark said was that he wants every Emirates flight to Australia to be operated by A380’s.

Per The Australian

“We are growing capacity simply by up-gauging to the A380, and we will continue to gradually bring more and more of those in,”

“I really want to consolidate the whole product on to 380s eventually.”

Emirates A380 © Zac George

The airline is also considering services to Cairns or Darwin but first wants to upgrade existing routes to A380’s.

“At the moment it is about up-gauging. There are other points that could be of interest to us later on with perhaps a twin (engine plane) but we are not there yet,” he said.

“Once we have consolidated that we can then start looking at other points. But at the moment a lot of things are in flatline. The European economy flatlined, the Asian economies have slowed and a lot of capacity has come into market which was purchased years ago. So we have to wait and see where things go and then we’ll look at other places.”

Bottom Line

This announcement and future plan doesn’t surprise me at all considering the growth of the Middle Eastern services to Australia.

Emirates Flying Their A380 To Christchurch From October

In a media release today Emirates announced they are upgrading the Dubai – Sydney – Christchurch route with their A380. A 777-300ER currently operates the route.

Press release:

Emirates to Offer First A380 Christchurch Services
A380s on both New Zealand Auckland non-stop and South Island flights from 30 October

Tuesday, September 6, 2016 — DUBAI, UAE – 6 September 2016 – Emirates A380s will fly between Dubai and New Zealand five times daily from 30 October with the introduction of the airline’s double-decker flagship aircraft on Christchurch services.

Emirates will be the first airline to offer regularly scheduled A380 services to and from Christchurch with the upgrade of the current daily Christchurch service from Boeing 777-300ERs, along with the removal of the en-route stop in Bangkok which will enable passengers to travel all the way from Christchurch and Dubai, with just one stop in Sydney.

The launch of the Christchurch A380 flights will coincide with the introduction of the A380 on Emirates’ daily non-stop route between Dubai and Auckland. Emirates currently also operates three other daily A380 services between Auckland and Dubai and beyond via Australia (Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane).

Outbound EK412 will depart Dubai at 10:15 hours, seamlessly connecting with southbound services from European destinations such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Manchester and many more of Emirates’ 38 Europe services. EK412 will stop only in Sydney before arriving in Christchurch at 13:50 hours the next day (local time). The return flight EK413 will depart Christchurch at 18:45 hours, touching down in Dubai at 05:15 hours the next day after its stop in Sydney, reducing the journey time to Dubai and Europe by about two hours in each direction.

At the same time, the Dubai service to Auckland via Sydney, will feature the opportunity for travellers to explore Southeast Asia or Australia en route as this service, EK418, will operate via the popular hub that is Bangkok, as well as Sydney. Flight EK418 will depart Dubai at 08:55 hours and arrive in Auckland at 15:55 hours the following day (local time). The return service, via Sydney and Bangkok, operating as flight EK419, will depart Auckland at 16:30 hours and arrive in Dubai the following morning at 06:45 hours.

Known as the Garden City, Christchurch is the main gateway to the South Island and is set on the Canterbury Plains. The picturesque Avon River runs through the middle of the city of more than 380,000 residents. The banks of the river feature cycle paths, the green expanse of Hagley Park and the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

Other tourist attractions include the International Antarctic Centre, the Christchurch Art Gallery and the start point for scenic journeys on the Trans Alpine passenger train.

Emirates is the only airline offering year-round scheduled A380 services to and from New Zealand.

All daily A380 flights provide connections in Dubai with direct Emirates flights to and from 38 destinations in Europe, as well as a number of cities in Africa and the Middle East. On many of Emirates’ routes, Auckland and Christchurch passengers will be able to fly all the way in both directions on an A380, including on services connecting New Zealand with London (Heathrow and Gatwick), Manchester, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Munich, Barcelona and Zurich.

The introduction of the new service will also mean Sydney-based travellers will have a wider choice of routeings and timings on A380 flights, with the Christchurch A380 in addition to two current daily Emirates A380 services plus partner Qantas’ A380 service to Dubai.

All New Zealand services will continue to offer three classes of travel – First, Business and Economy, with generous free baggage allowance (up to 35kg in Economy, 40kg in Business and 50kg in First Class).

On Emirates‘ A380s, First Class passengers can look forward to quiet luxury in the comfort of their private suites and enjoy the industry’s only Onboard Shower Spa. First Class and Business Class passengers can socialise and sample canapes and cocktails at the popular Onboard Lounge and passengers in all classes can enjoy the gourmet cuisine, Emirates‘ award-winning inflight entertainment, ice, with more than 2,500 channels and free Wi-Fi, which is available on all of Emirates’ A380s.

The A380 have a few enhancements over the 777 such as full flat seats for business class, onboard bar, and larger bathrooms with a shower for first class.